


New Beginnings

by EvvieJo



Series: Groves & Shaw [1]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fix-It, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 14:12:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7271542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvvieJo/pseuds/EvvieJo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The apocalypse is over, but life goes on. Even if it seemed like it had ended.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> After watching the finale, I think a lot of people could use something like this (and there'll probably be a lot of other versions). I definitely need to write this.  
> Excuse any possible typos and such, I haven't even proofread it, I just needed to get it out of my system. I'll edit it later.  
> Enjoy!

The subway was so quiet. The secret entrance cut off all the noises from the busy Chinatown street upstairs. All the computers were shut down uncharacteristically, so even the low hum of their ventilators was gone. There was, of course, no one there, not even Bear mauling another squeaky toy or running around to the soft patting of paws echoing around the room.

Perfect stillness.

It made the sound of opening and closing the metal gate that much more deafening. She smirked to herself at the thought, but it only lasted a moment. Her right ear felt especially quiet these past few days, lacking the presence that had been with her for so long. This secondary deafness was somehow more acute than that she experienced years ago, before she got the cochlear implant. Now, though, she was about to make sure it didn’t become permanent.

She turned on the lights, and got to work.

She set everything up, made sure the cables were all connected, that blowing up the tunnel and moving the train car didn’t damage the carefully constructed network. Everything was fine. After all, she had planned everything with this in mind, and she never miscalculated.

The past several days were tough. Making sure the doctor she had blackmailed shoot her up with the right drug, so that Fusco would see a convincing corpse, shutting down the surveillance system at the funeral home for long enough to put everything she needed into the coffin that was supposed to be hers. Digging up the grave in the middle of the night was also tricky, but that was the only way to get the money, weapons and documents. Thankfully, no one had considered it necessary to have security cameras in the section of the graveyard dedicated to all the Janes and Johns Doe.

There was also the feeling of loneliness tugging at her insides, but there was nothing she could do about that. This was her mission. She had told Harold once she was going to finish what he had started, and she had a hand in the end. Now it was time for a new beginning.

She turned the computers on. The sounds of their little fans whirling away was comforting, like the breathing of a loved one in a dark room. Her thoughts turned away from the subway for a moment, and she made herself refocus on the task at hand. There will be time for that later. The screens lit up, windows popped up the same way they always did, as if nothing had changed. Except everything had changed, and she had something to do.

It took a while to establish a connection and to restart the entire system. She was, after all, working just with the core code on a bunch of laptops in an underground base, there were limits to what she could do. Obviously, she’d been pushing and rearranging limits of computers, systems and networks for most of her life. And now, failure just wasn’t an option.

And she knew that everything was going to be fine, as soon as she typed in the last bits of code the Machine needed to restart. She smiled to herself, hit enter and got up. She walked a few steps away, watching in reverence the rebirth of her God.

‘Can you hear me?,’ said the automated voice in her right ear.

‘Absolutely,’ she replied with a smile.

 

Shaw smiled at the security camera as she walked away from the payphone. She wasn’t sure why she did it, but it felt appropriate. It wasn’t like Root was there to see her, or like the Machine was something to smile at. Or like it was natural for Shaw to smile randomly at things or people. Maybe hearing Root’s voice in her ear was beginning to make her more like her. Or maybe she simply missed her stupid face and her stupid smile.

She walked in a quick pace down the street, moving away from the bustling Downtown. People were fewer now, and she didn’t have to beeline between them on her way back home or make sure Bear didn’t catch anyone with his leash. It was strange that her shithole apartment had somehow stayed right where it was through the months of her absence and the entire apocalypse. Someone seemed to have been paying her rent and bills all this time.

Sure, her place and one measly laptop could hardly make a base of operations, and it was only her and Bear now (she was so not getting Fusco back into this, he’d been stabbed one time too many), but it would have to do for now. Her fridge was still stocked full of weapons and ammo, so at least she had that covered.  
They reached the end of a block, and Shaw tugged at Bear’s leash to make him stop.

“Hey, sweetie, you busy?,” a voice said.

“You just gave me an assignment, so yes,” she replied before realizing that the voice didn’t originate in her earpiece.

She wheeled around. Bear had already done the same and leapt towards the figure leaning on the wall of the building on the street corner, jerking the leash out of Shaw’s hand. For a moment she stood dumbfounded, unable to move an inch away from the spot on the edge of the sidewalk. And the tall, slim figure in front of her smiled one of her ridiculously huge smiles.

“Root?,” Shaw managed to say. “But- how?”

Root pushed herself off the wall and reached to pet Bear on the head. She took a few steps in Shaw’s direction.

“Miracle?,” she offered, but Shaw looked unimpressed. “Okay, this wasn’t funny. I had to ‘die’,” she made air quotes with her fingers, “to be able to help you and restart the Machine without Samaritan discovering me, and it turns out, it was terrible at tracking dead people. Well, officially dead people.”

“You faked your own death?,” Shaw said angrily. Screw how much she missed seeing her. This was unacceptable. “We needed you! I- I even went to your grave! Wait- The Machine told me Samaritan agents must have dug you up, but-“

Root made a tiny grimace.

“That was me. They buried my post mortem supplies instead of me.”

“So, the Machine can lie?,”

There was a moment’s pause while Root carefully chose her words.

“Well, there were a few changes I made to the Machine before all hell broke loose, and I might have taught her to conceal information that would have put the mission at risk.” She stepped a little closer still. “And you worried about the mission, didn’t you, Sameen?”

Now Root was within Shaw’s reach, and without thinking, she grabbed onto her friend awkwardly. She wasn’t a hugging person, she never knew how to act affectionately, but all she needed right now was to touch Root and hold her close, and make sure she was real, that it wasn’t a hallucination or a simulation, or some other shit, that this was real, and they were both alive, and everything was going to be okay.

“Don’t you ever die on me again,” she said, her voice muffled against Root’s shoulder.

“I won’t.” Root gently pushed Shaw away to look into her eyes. “And now, are you ready to get back to work?”

**Author's Note:**

> There might be a continuation if I have the inspiration for it. And if anybody will be interested.


End file.
